View full sizeRicky Naranjo y Los Gamblers carry on the rich musical legacy of Ruben Naranjo in concert May 4 at the Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mount Pleasant.

MOUNT PLEASANT, MI – Ruben Naranjo III never intended to make music for a living and follow in the footsteps of his grandfather.

“My grandpa would always tell me, ‘You’ll be a musician one day,’ and I would tell him, `No', I was going to be a doctor or a lawyer,” he said.

But when people hear the tejano legend’s grandson singing in Ricky Naranjo y Los Gamblers, fans of the third-generation band from Texas swear they’re listening to the original all over again. Judge for yourself; as part of Saginaw’s Cinco de Mayo festivities on Saturday, May 4, the Naranjos perform with The Hometown Boys and Stefani Montiel at 8 p.m. at Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mount Pleasant.

Tickets, available at the box office, by calling 800-585-3737 and through StarTickets, cost $40, $35, $30 and $25.

“I try my best,” Naranjo said. “I don’t try to imitate my grandfather but it comes naturally. It’s music from the heart; it’s like his music in more of an emotional way.

“He was a kind person who was musically inclined. He was a musical genius; he had perfect pitch and could tune his guitar by ear alone.”

Naranjo III spent a lot of time with him growing up, remembering that he was very famous already but also very humble. And he was sure that his grandson would one day come into the fold.

“He taught me how to sing and in San Antonio, he took me onstage to sing in front of a few thousand people,” Naranjo said. “I was 6 at the time and I had to stand on top of his accordion case to reach the mic.”

After his grandfather died in 1998, “people kept asking, ‘Hey, when are you going to start up again?’ It was kind of like an obligation; our family owed it to the people who loved him.”

His uncle Ricky Naranjo had started with the band as a sound engineer and when its drummer quit in the middle of a performance, he stepped onstage.

At 15, Naranjo was into rock, but he studied accordion with Hall of Famer Amadeo Flores at his father’s request. Soon after, Flores told him that he had outgrown the teacher and should continue learning by ear.

Together, they still play what you might hear, he said, if Hank Williams sang Spanish songs. It’s happy music, the kind that makes you want to dance.

In still another twist, Roger Ramirez, the son of his grandfather’s guitarist, now plays with Naranjo, “and it’s like we were meant to sing together,” he said. “We don’t even have to try. It’s just there.

“This is the last thing I wanted to do growing up but then I fell in love with the accordion. The rest is history.”